Finding a new drum or hand percussion instrument to play is
one of the best things about being a drummer. No matter if you started out on a
set of bongo drums or you were a drummer in your school’s marching band, once
you’re bitten with the percussion bug, it can be hard to ever let that
excitement go.
For the drum set drummer, all of those hours spent learning the
basics and practicing rudiments can lead to a really great experience drumming
in a band, on stage or in a studio. Since a drum set has several drums that are
played together, in a sense, you’re really doing the same work as three or more
people, considering a basic bass drum, snare and cymbal setup. Add more drums,
cymbals and percussion instruments to your rig and it can seem like you’re
never going to have enough arms and legs to get the job done right.
Then, you realize that some “drummer” in front of a coffee
house is playing the beat to your favorite song… while sitting on a box… and it
sounds pretty fantastic. Then you think… how could I ever possibly play my
fantastic groove on a box? A cajon drum? IMPOSSIBLE!
Not really. In fact, it’s a lot easier than you think,
especially when you’re already drumming your heart out.
Cajon drums are essentially wooden boxes that are
acoustically built for drumming. Hailing from Peru, these drums initially were
a huge part of Afro-Peruvian music, especially Flamenco, but they have since
been found in just about any genre of music that soaks up an “unplugged” vibe.
Cajons have two basic sounds, unlike your drum set. There is the bass sound
that comes from striking the instrument’s front “drumhead,” or “tapa,” and then
there are the higher accent sounds that come from the corner area of the drum.
The middle of the drum is your bass or kick
drum, and the sides/corner are your toms and/or snare drums. Some cajons will
include snares to really grab the rasp of the beat, or, you can customize your
cajon’s sound to your liking (one of the perks of the drum!). You can also use
a kick pedal to beat the “bass” of the cajon, giving you the ability to play
with both hands and a foot, which might feel a little more familiar to the drum
set drummer.
Once you master the basic anatomy of the cajon, translating
the rhythm should be pretty simple to figure out: bass in the middle, accents
on the side. Now that you’ve got the beat, you also have an instrument that has
become a great replacement for your drum set, especially in acoustic settings.
Cajon drums also can be played with other accent percussion
or cymbals to really increase the “drum set” feel, with an acoustic sound. You
can play a hi-hat as you normally would, strap on some wrist or foot percussion
jingles (tambourines for your feet!) or use brushes or cajon drum sticks for an
even more “real” feeling to your drumming. The potential in these box drums is
unlimited, and worth every moment you spend on them, especially if you’re ready
to increase your percussion skills overall.
There actually isn’t a technique for translating drum set
rhythms to cajon drums – the rhythm you play on a drum set is adapted to an
entirely different instrument, but, that is a huge part of the fun. As a
drummer, you know the difference between the sound of every size tom or snare
you’ve played, and how different types of drum heads (or cymbals, or drum
sticks, or kick pedals, etc.) affect sound… which means you know how to play
with those sounds to find a cajon drum translation.
Translating a drum set rhythm to cajon drums is just your
own interpretation of what is behind the songs you love to play – and that’s
pretty much what all drumming is about, anyway.